Category: Roshi

I’ve been teaching these Internal Process classes for the last few months. I put together a very incomplete reading list for the people joining the class and in the group on Facebook. These books have been helpful to me in my internal process work. I’ll add to it over time. Please suggest books in the…

When Teresa and I first went to Tahoma One Drop and experienced Zen we were so shocked by how good it felt there. And how unmistakably cool the head monk was. Teresa was coming directly from college and I was drifting around aimlessly. I guess I kind of expected the head monk to be…

It can be extremely helpful if someone acknowledges what we’ve been experiencing in our own internal process or we happen to read or hear someone talk about something which we’ve been experiencing, but no one else seems to understand. It can be a lifesaver. Or at least reading or hearing them talk about some of…

In our training, the Roshi asks us to go into the house. He says, “Go Straight!” In our zazen, we must find a way in. We all go up to the door and try to push it open. It won’t budge. But the Roshi told us to “Go Straight!” So we push and push on…

In Zen, much of the focus is on doing Tanden energy work. Please see my article on Tanden to learn about it. The Tanden work is huge and never ending, but with time and experience, it becomes apparent that we are also doing heart energy work, the long healing process of working out our emotional…

Lately I’ve been doing a lot of Zhan Zhuang, and as I do it, memories of energetic insights, of struggles and specific leaps in practice have been coming back to me from my first couple of years in Zen training. I think describing some of that feeling will be of value to some training people…

“To study the Buddha Way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be actualized by myriad things. When actualized by myriad things, your body and mind as well as the bodies and minds of others drop away. No trace of enlightenment remains,…

“Receive.” “Receive”. “We become like a great mountain” Over and over the Roshi would tell us this. Many people want to know how to have ease in their bodies. Many of my friends, clients, zen friends. Someone tells them to put their pelvis in this position and that does not feel good. And so they…

Thank you for reading my blog! Below are the all time most popular posts. Breathing from the Belly: Tanden, a Great Rolling Ball Describing Traditional Rinzai Koan Training A great love affair Just standing around Zhan Zhuang, Standing Like a Tree Breaking Through: Sublime and Natural These are not necessarily my favorite. I will do…